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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on July 19, 2013 at 11:24

Professor Julian Le Grand, Alan Wood and Dame Moira Gibb were appointed as a Review Panel on Doncaster Children's Services by the Secretary of State for Education. Professor Le Grand chaired the Panel.

Its report very clearly sets out the problems faced by Doncaster's Children's Safeguarding Service and the history of its failings. It also summarises previous attempts made to help the service improve; and discusses possible options for action, including making a recommendation.

The main body of the report is only seventeen pages long - and that includes the title page, terms of reference and process. (There are a further fifteen pages of annexes which aren't all essential to read, but there is a useful time-line.

In your heading on this discussion, you give a link to the BBC website page which contains a link to the Julian Le Grand Report. It wasn't too difficult for you to find and read it.

You have very plainly drawn a parallel between events in Doncaster with what you suggest should happen in Haringey. You try to strengthen the parallel by mentioning Eleanor Brazil who worked in Haringey for a while after the death of Peter Connelly. She was appointed Director in Doncaster to begin in July 2013. It implies a criticism of Ms Brazil which is wholly unwarranted.

You use the word "lesson" and suggest that the Secretary of State should treat Doncaster as a "lesson" to be applied to Haringey.

I assumed that before making such a lofty pronouncement you would at least have taken the trouble to read the key seventeen pages in the Le Grand Report.

But you couldn't be bothered, could you? Because you had already made up your mind.

As you know, in the 1970s I worked as a social worker, including having a large caseload of children. Subsequently I spent several years doing participatory research with teams in social services agencies.

The thing which bothers me most about some critics of children's social work departments is their irresponsibility in making sweeping judgements - apparently without any thought given to the impact on those departments, on the morale of staff within them, and on their ability to retain and recruit experienced, strong, committed staff.

Eleanor Brazil makes the same point. But like Professor Le Grand's Report, perhaps you didn't bother to read the Guardian article you linked to. Had you done so, you would have found much good sense.

Clive, you will no doubt have the last word. You usually do. But I doubt it will be a graceful apology. In any case I won't be reading it.

I am no longer following this thread.

(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)

Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on July 22, 2013 at 11:57

Cllr. Stanton claims to have vacated this thread, but his parting shots provides an insight into reasons for the chronic poor performance of Haringey's Children's Services.

Alan's irritation at being invited to endorse the actions of a Education Secretary of a political party other than his own, has been helpful, perhaps unwittingly. The most telling part was:

The thing which bothers me most about some critics of children's social work departments is their irresponsibility in making sweeping judgements - apparently without any thought given to the impact on those departments, on the morale of staff within them, and on their ability to retain and recruit experienced, strong, committed staff.

First, I'm sure that, in the claim of irresponsibility and "sweeping judgements" the good councillor does not mean to include either Lord Laming or, more recently, Justice Thorton. Both these independent people took time to consider their remarks and were critical of Haringey's CYPS.

The second point is fundamental: Cllr. Stanton's prime concern is with the staff, the managers and the reputation of the managers and the department. The assumption is that all social workers and their managers are equally good, decent and honest. This is a statist and union-centric approach, rather than a human or individual-focused approach.

Though I'm sure Alan might say of course he's concerned about the kids, I think its significant that  in his fusillade, there was no mention of vulnerable children. In theory, children are at the stated heart of the service; however, it is the lack of primacy of children in reality, that is the crux of the problem.

We saw it following the death of Peter, with Sharon Shoesmith's Powerpoint presentation. Powerless children can be almost incidental to the mighty CYPS bureaucrats.

Third, Alan is right about the difficulty of attracting staff to this service. So dire is this aspect that, following Baby P, 17 social workers were brought in from the United States (one of whom may later have been involved in the AB & CD case).

However, if this important service is to be fixed in the long run, it cannot be addressed by sweeping chronic management problems under the carpet.

Fourth, periodically, various bods are brought in on huge pay packets to sort out Haringey's failing service. They stay for a while then move on, with little or nothing fundamental fixed. One example is Eleanor Brazil (now involved with Doncaster – see top of thread). At the end of the Guardian article (link elsewhere), Alan perhaps didn't notice this phrase:

This article is an edited extract from a document written by her as part of the process to recruit her permanent successor

The article was a prospectus to sell the job to another. Were the claims of dramatic improvements and turnaround truly accurate? Or does it perhaps come under the same heading as the "glowing references" that glow too brightly.

The body politic has lost sight of the original goal.

Until the leadership can remember what is the purpose of children's services, the chronic problems in Haringey's Cinderella Department will continue, as they have for more than a decade.

Alan claims that he is no longer following this thread, which is a pity. The structural problems at CYPS are chronic and need close, serious attention from our elected representatives.

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